Early attempts to commercialize a shock wave tenderization system were based on the controlled detonation of chemical explosives in a water-filled vessel in which the meat was submersed (Godfrey, U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,688; Long, U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,766). Although significant tenderization was documented using a chemical explosive-based technology according to Long '766, a number of technological limitations existed with this approach. With the chemical explosive-based system, the meat was packaged to avoid contact with the water potentially containing chemical residue from the explosion; vacuum packaging resulted in complete absence of air, even minute bubbles, and was desired because the rapid pressures generated by the shock wave would cause bag failures, thus exposing the meat to the water in the vessel and to potential combustion products from the explosives.
Also, the high infrastructure costs and the lack of the ability to optimize the process for specific muscle types inhibited the commercialization of a chemical explosive-based system.
Subsequently, a novel concept was developed in which a shock wave could be electrically generated with a capacitor discharge system (e.g. Long, U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,818). Since that time a number of improvements have been developed.
A muscle cell is about the diameter of a human hair and contains about 1000–2000 myofibrils. After treatment according to the present invention and earlier embodiments, transmission electron micrographs (TEM) at 19,500X show jagged tear lines along the myofibrils which suggest physical tearing of the myofibrils rather than proteolysis. The bonds of the meat proteins associated with the Z-line and the thin filaments appear to be highly susceptible to physical shock wave tenderization as carried out according to the present invention and earlier embodiments.